Winter Warmer Recipe: Trout Parcels with Fennel and Sugar Snap Peas

Our guest writer Jessie (aka mscooksalot) has loved cooking and exploring recipes for as long as she can remember. Passionate about real food, she wants to know what’s in it and where it comes from.  She believes that food is one of the greatest pleasures in life and can transform your experiences from the forgettable to the sublime. We asked her to help us kick start a healthy, delicious and happy New Year! And if you'd like to check out more of our Winter Warmer recipes, you'll find them here.

Fish is one of those foods that tends to divide people - you either love it or hate it. We all know we are supposed to be eating at least one portion of oily fish every week, as it is a great source of healthy fat in the form of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. But eating certain foods just for their apparent health benefits can really test your self discipline and who wants to turn any meal into a chore anyway? I happen to love trout and try to eat it as often as I can. It has a slightly milder flavour than salmon and a more delicate texture.

One of my favourite ways to cook it is “en papillote”, which just a fancy French way of saying in a parcel. This might seem a bit fiddly but trust me it’s actually really simple and a really foolproof way of cooking any piece of fish. The parcel traps the steam in and cooks the fish very gently.

This is a really delicious, simple way of cooking fish.  It works well as a quick, nutritious, midweek dinner for two, but it can also be a fun dinner party dish, as each guest can enjoy opening up their own parcel to see what inside! This recipe serves 2 and if you don’t like trout, you can easily swap it for any other fish.

• Ingredients

2 x 175g fillets of trout - either sea trout or rainbow trout

150g packet of sugar snap peas

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

4 small to medium potatoes

1/2 bulb of fennel

50 ml vermouth or  75ml dry white wine

Sea salt and black pepper

• Method

Preheat the oven to 220 C, or Gas Mark 7.

Cut out two large pieces of greaseproof paper to about 40 cm x 40 cm.

Cut the potatoes into 1 cm slices and steam for 10 minutes until almost cooked through.

Slice the fennel as thinly as you can.

Now all you need to do is assemble your parcels.

Fold the sheet of paper exactly in half. Place it on top of a large baking tray, like a book on its side, with its seem away from you.

Start with the potatoes, arranging them in single layer.

Next add the peas and then the sliced fennel.

Put the fish on top of this, skin side down. Sprinkle half of the lemon zest over the fish and season with salt and pepper.

Now comes the Blue Peter part!  Fold the paper over the fish, i.e. towards you, and then begin folding up the edges in a tight seem, and then fold them over again.

Fold up one side of the parcel in the same way.

It’s time to add the wine. Tilt the tray with the open side of the parcel up and pour in half of the wine. Then fold up that side in exactly the same way.

You should end up with with looks like an envelope!  Don’t worry about how neat it looks as long as it’s fairly secure. Make sure it’s not too tight as you want to leave room for the steam to puff it up.

If you’re making this for 2 people, repeat with the other half of your ingredients.

Bake your 2 parcels in the oven for 15 minutes.

To serve, just slide them onto a plate. Let each person rip open their own parcels, being careful not to have their face directly over the plate!

Garnish with some chopped fennel fronds.

And now for the most important part - enjoy!

Are you tempted to try out this recipe? What is your healthy eating fav? We’d love to hear all about it!

If you’d like to read more from Jessie, you can check out her blog here!